May has a PhD in astrophysics. One would think he’d be smarter.
L
He likely is smarter.
But smart people can still be bought off.
They just are able to get a better deal than the dumb ones.
There was an Italian economist who wrote The Five Laws of Human Stupidity, He was Carlo M. Cipolla, a professor of economic history at the University of California - Berkeley.
Worth the read.
BTW, I have known Ph.D’s that fit.